MORE
DEBAUCHERY. Our favourite Gollancz editor Jo
Fletcher's 40th birthday was marked by a surprise party in Hampstead,
organized by Steve Jones. The most admired present was a clockwork skull
that chattered its teeth when wound up (and so would you). A fairly
glittering throng included John Brosnan, who wanted to know if you could
buy chocolate Terry Pratchetts; John & Judith Clute, now locked in
deadly combat with Camden building regulations; Rob Holdstock, who paled
on learning that the press release for his new Earthlight sale alleges
that the tipple of choice in Holdstock/Jarrold pub sessions is a
half-pint of lager shandy; Roz Kaveney, babbling about plans for a
lengthy US research trip as Kathy Acker's biographer; and Paul McAuley.
Gollancz staff dwelt with morbid glee on a hostile takeover bid from
Macmillan. Discreet flyers on every available surface advertised
versatile Jo's poetry collection Shadows of Light and Dark (£12.99/$21.50,
£1 UK p&p, from Alchemy Press, 46 Oxford Rd, Acocks Green,
Birmingham, B27 6DT) and her secret powers of choral singing. Gosh.

Sam
J. Lundwall was reported in a Swedish newspaper as having
published his last book: 'I woke up one day and realized I couldn't
publish books any more. The losses have been too big.' Lundwall-watchers
note that the same paper quoted him as 'quitting publishing forever' on
several past occasions, each followed by a relapse.... [AE]

Chris
Priest learned again that sf is ok if written by the Right
People, like novelist Maggie Gee. Radio 4's Start the Week
featured hard man Jeremy Paxman grilling her approximately thus: 'Now
don't get me wrong. I can't stand science fiction. All those stupid
ideas. But your book is SET IN A PLAUSIBLE FUTURE! It
takes TRENDS FROM THE REAL WORLD! You are a woman but
you WRITE IN THE VOICE OF A MAN! It has GLOBAL
COOLING! I'm impressed, I'm amazed, where do you get ideas like
that?'

Darrell
Schweitzer fears that Weird Tales contributors may
flee in droves at A132's innocent mention that WT is now
edited by George Scithers. 'No, it is actually edited by George Scithers
and Darrell Schweitzer, as it has been for many years, even, I admit,
the years in which I was listed as sole editor. The only change (a
significant one) is that WT has a new publisher, Warren
Lapine's DNA Publications.... WT now has 3 companion magazines,
Absolute Magnitude (sf, ed Warren), Aboriginal SF (ed
Charles Ryan), and Dreams of Decadence (vampires, ed Angela
Kessler). The most important result of this is that WT is really
a quarterly, for the first time since 1990. The only "editorial"
change is that we no longer list George as publisher, so we now list him
as co-editor.' DNA is now also publishing the small-press Pirate
Writings.

Ian
Watson foresees Doom: 'For the final day of their Millennium
Con the Israelis have hired none other than Armageddon, namely the
museum at Megiddo (which otherwise is just a lot of baked earth). A
fleet of cars will head there climactically from Tel Aviv. Truly
inspired.'

Allan
Weiss told Ansible that, contrary to Lloyd Penney's
A135 report, he has no lawsuit against the Toronto Star.
Also, Karl Schroeder of the writers' organization SF Canada notes that
although 4 of 100+ members did resign over the Weiss/Sawyer lawsuit,
this wasn't for fear of litigation but because SF Canada refused to take
sides despite alleged social pressure by Robert Sawyer's supporters on
those trying to stay neutral. Karl adds: 'Allan Weiss has never sued
anyone before, and has no other known enemies; consequently there is no
belief in the community as a whole that Mr. Weiss represents a threat to
any other writer.'

6-7 Mar 99  Microcon 19, University of Exeter. Fee
update: no advance booking since 'MicroCon is FREE!
Well, not entirely, we ask that all attendees make a contribution to the
University Rag charities.' Contact 16 Fairlea Close, Dawlish, Devon, EX7
0NN.

Publishers
& Sinners. Virgin Publishing launch a new sf/fantasy
imprint, Virgin Worlds, in March 1999. Policy is to publish new or
little-known British writers; the three initial novels are by Trevor
Hoyle and two unknowns. Extrapolating from a recent experience with
Virgin Trains, Ansible assumes these books will appear late,
move at a snail's pace, and completely miss the connection with any
follow-up volume.

Random
Fandom.Paul Barnett ('John Grant') is marrying Pamela
Scoville ... or rather, 'Pam and I are already married, but plan to sign
the legal documents just before Eastercon.'  Gregory &
Joan Benford have reportedly split up.  Vince Clarke
was making fair progress and hoped that he'd 'be eating pulp (at least)
by Xmas.' But he's now back in hospital with severe depression: Gillies
Ward, St.Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Kent, DA14 6LT. Neil Craig
cunningly publicizes his Glasgow sf/comics shop 'Futureshock' with
swastikas and pro-Serbian sentiments in the window, plus tasteful
soundbites like 'Bosnian Muslims were famous for staging massacres of
their own people and blaming the Serbs.' [C]  Electrical Eggs
UK (disabled access at cons) plans an illustrated 'Easter EGGS'
calendar: interested artists contact F 1/2 , 10 Atlas Rd, Springburn,
Glasgow, G21 4TE.  Kev McVeigh warns literary pilgrims
that 'The Griffin – the Glasgow pub featured in I. Banks's Espedair
Street – is to close for modernization (plastic, chrome and fake
panelling probably).'  Steve Stiles is the first recipient
of the Rotsler Memorial Fanzine Artist Award ($300, a plaque and
sempiternal fame), acknowledging his 39 years of fine fan art. SCIFI,
the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, set up the award.
[GFS]  Peter Wareham found this clue 'in the Daily
Telegraph's General Knowledge Crossword, 10 Oct: "What Romulan
and Klingon ships do to be rendered invisible (5)". In the Telegraph!
What is the world coming to?'  Pam Wells's excuse
for missing Novacon is 'a parachute jump in aid of Children in Need'.
Sponsors are urged to send Pam all their money: Flat 6, 7 Bootham Tce,
York, YO30 7DH, cheques to University of York Mature Students'
Association. Videotapes of the death-defying event may well become
available!

Oh
Dear. Marvel Comics recalled over 250,000 copies of their Wolverine
comic book when a passing remark about an adversary – 'the killer known
as Sabretooth' – turned out to have been lettered as 'the kike known as
Sabretooth.' Just to make things worse, the offending issue was
scheduled for sale on Yom Kippur.... Although it seems that no copies
were actually sold, Marvel have grovelled extensively. [BB]

R.I.P.Ted Hughes (1930-1998), Poet Laureate since 1984, died of cancer
on 29 Oct; a great deal of his verse was fantastic, and his children's
fantasy The Iron Man (1968) is widely loved.  Roddy
McDowall (1928-1998), the one-time child movie star best known to sf
fans for his adult appearances in Planet of the Apes (1968) and
its sequels, died of cancer on 3 Oct. He was 70. [BB]

Knives
Out in Australia.The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian SF
and Fantasy (ed Paul Collins, assoc eds Sean McMullen & Steven
Paulsen; MUP is Melbourne University Press) was not universally
welcomed, despite fine bibliographies. While numerous minor writers get
kindly and even gushy entries, laden with cosy trivia apparently lifted
from author questionnaires, multiple award-winner Terry Dowling is
singled out by Collins for dismissive sneers ('obscure ... impenetrable
... obtuse') found nowhere else in the book. Critics are unhappy: Damien
Broderick calls this 'regrettable', Peter Nicholls prefers
'disgraceful', and to John Clute's finely tuned nostrils the treatment
of Dowling 'stank'. It is said that the associate editors objected
strongly, with McMullen returning his editorial fee and asking that his
name be removed from future editions.

To
Boldly Sue ... Paramount were unhappy about Sam Ramer's book
The Joy of Trek, and succeeded in having it banned 'pending the
outcome of a full-blown copyright infringement trial in which the studio
will seek over $22 million in damages.' The judge opined that Ramer's
use of plot summaries and exposition of Star Trek background
(which 'fictitious history is a story, created and owned by Paramount')
went far beyond fair use. An appeal is in progress. Paramount's lawyers
cocked things up by telling bookshops that sales of existing stock – allowed under the injunction – would be in contempt of court ... thus
providing Ramer's company Carol Publishing with grounds for a
countersuit.

The
Perils of Plasticine.Neil Gaiman exposes bits of A135
as old news: 'Archangel: Thunderbird (which I tend to think of
as Tony Luke's Thing) has been showing on the UK Sci-Fi Channel for
about six months now, so I fear that my TV debut has already happened.
I'm sure I'd be a shoo-in for the Best Heavily Electronically Treated
Plasticine Demon Voice BAFTA award, if only there was one.' Our reporter
Joe McNally blames the astute publicity folk who sent 'advance'
promotional bumf in mid-Sept. Neil's next thrilling role is as 'an alien
in a CD-ROM Game called Flying Saucers ... where I had to say
things like "don't give up little saucer buddy!" and "aaargh!"
a lot. If Flying Saucers ever comes out, Ansible readers
around the globe will write to you saying "I was playing this game
and guess who said 'aaargh' a lot but Neil Gaiman."'

Wedding
Bells.London, 24 Oct: Even Dr Plokta's superfluous
technology can't fix the weather, and the heavens opened to mark the
most stupendous plokta wedding since ... well, the last one.
This time it was Alison Scott and Steve Cain. Apparently the rain had
only been really bad during the parts of the wedding meant to happen
outside.  The bride sported an elaborate ivory silk and net hat
that you'd almost have expected to get in the way of her drinking, and
an extremely elegant hairstyle. It's not meant to be important what
anyone else wore.  Alison and Steven arrived at their Jubilee
Tavern reception to find many of the guests already there getting
confused about which pub meeting this was. Unfeasible quantities of
champagne were unloaded from the car. "Don't forget you've got a
daughter in there too!" yelled Friend of the Family Sue Mason,
evidently not for the first time.  The late arrival of the wedding
party was blamed on the traditional excuse that the bride had been
editing the digital wedding photos; pint in one hand and laptop in the
other, Alison treated evening guests to a computerized presentation of
the festivities and floods they'd missed. We marvelled in equal measure
at the wonders of modern technology and the sight of Michael Abbott in a
tie.' (Mark Plummer & Claire Brialey)

Thog's
Copyediting Masterclass.Richard Bleiler remembers:
'My all-time horrible copyeditor story involves Gale: I did the piece on
Thomas Burke for the recently issued Dictionary of Literary
Biography 197. One of my original lines involved a story in which a
girl's father rents her bed to indigent seamen. The copyeditor changed
bed to body....'

Ici
On Parle Raman.Joe McNally is at the cutting edge
again: 'Dropped into Borders on Oxford Street this afternoon to check
out their "untranslated literature" section.... Fannish
linguists will be glad to hear that they sell Anne Rice and Arthur C.
Clarke in the original French.'

Fanfundery.Joseph Nicholas bewailed early apathy about the 1999 GUFF race
to Aussiecon 3: 'Is everyone so rich that they can afford to make the
trip at their own expense, and doubtless fuel their reception with
tureens of caviare and magnums of champagne?' Deadline extended to 30
Nov 1998. Candidates should send nominations (3 Euro, 2 Aussie),
100-word platforms and £10 'bond' to Joseph, 15 Jansons Rd, S.
Tottenham, London, N15 4JU. Stop Press: Julian Headlong and Paul
Kincaid are standing, nobly planning to nominate each other and do joint
GUFF Profile-Raising.  DUFF: US candidates for a trip to
that same Aussie Worldcon are Lise Eisenberg, Janice Gelb and Andy
Hooper. Ballots available in UK real soon now, on request from Ansible.

Outraged
Letters ... Richard Lynch disputes the universal
obituary listing of Leigh Couch as a member of First Fandom, which
requires visible fan activity before 1/1/38. Fanac from a girl of 12 (LC
was born in 1925) would arguably have been recorded in fan histories....
 Robert Newman listed all the ZZ9 people involved in that
Neil Gaiman TV debut (see above) and went on: 'Criticism of Archangel:
Thunderbird is a criticism of members of ZZ9. We therefore declare a
fatwah against Joe McNally for calling it "sub-manga nonsense",
even though that is blatantly true and it is the biggest pile of wank
I've ever seen.'

Thog's
Masterclass.Dept of True Romance in Author's
Acknowledgements: 'And two very special people, Richard and Kahlan,
for choosing me to tell their story. Their tears and triumphs have
touched my heart. I will never be the same again.' (Terry Goodkind, Wizard's
First Rule, 1994) [CB]  'Her blond cheeks gradually turned to
a darker color as the day – unlike other days, which were often as slow
as forever – devoured itself, digesting hours in great gulps.' (A.E.van
Vogt, 'Humans, Go Home!', 1969) [JB]  Dept of Short Attention
Spans: p10. 'Pick ... was a six-inch-high sylvan, a forest creature
... with body and limbs of twigs and hair and beard of moss.' p28. 'A
second look suggested [Pick] was a poorly designed child's doll made out
of tree parts. He was a sylvan, in fact, six inches high ...' (Terry
Brooks, A Knight of the Word, 1998) [PBe]  Dept of
Detached Privates: 'Some detached part of him heard the click of two
sets of teeth meeting after they cleaved through skin, meat, veins and
urethra.' (Simon Clark, Vampyrric, 1998) [PB]

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News from Novacon. Martin Tudor writes: 'Novacon 28, having
announced in PR#3 that all of the Britannia's single rooms had gone,
are now delighted to announce that the Britannia have kindly allocated
the corner rooms on each floor (which have small double beds in) as
additional singles. This is at least 24 extra single rooms. Although
the deadline for bookings has officially passed (which means the Hotel
are now able to take bookings from the general public at their regular
price) Carol Morton will continue to process them until 7 November.
(After that it will be advisable to call the Britannia Hotel direct
and you have no guarantee of receiving the reduced rate!)'

A further Novacon hassle is that, as a Christmas treat, the police
have closed Birmingham's New Street to all traffic, 10am-10pm. Thus
the promised disabled parking bays are inaccessible and
loading/unloading activities must move to the Britannia Hotel's
alternative bay in Commercial St, 'facing C&A and beside Lloyds
Bank'.

Fantasy Encyclopedia Web Site. By special dispensation of
John Clute and John Grant, that whole mass of corrections, updates and
addenda to the 1997 Encyclopedia of Fantasy can now be
consulted on-line at http://sfe3.org/addenda/fec.html
... [link updated 2009]